Should the evangelical christian church use magic tricks in outreaches? Are they deceiving, people and lying to people? Are we teaching children that they can do one thing and tell us it is another thing and try to trick us and get applauded for how well they can deceive? The better you trick a person the more you are respected? Is all this not against telling the truth, only what is true, not to deceive, isn’t it close to being deceived by demons, why would we even be ‘entertaining’ ourselves with something God hates? What scriptures could I use to convince someone that it can not be a good thing to use? Thank you.

Hi.

Thanks for writing. Your question is one that Christians have been asking for a long, long time in different ways. Some early Puritans considered the theater out of bounds because they believed that anything “playing” with reality was not real and therefore not true. For the same reason, many evangelicals have raise similar concerns about novels and movies. But this is too limited an understanding of truth and too loose an understanding of deception.

Magic tricks, generally, fall in the same category. When we go to see a magic trick, we know it’s a trick. We aren’t being deceived. The first thing people, even children, ask after seeing such a trick is, How did they do that!? We know there is a logical explanation. We just don’t know what it is, and it’s the mystery and the unknown that make it fun.

You may never become comfortable with magic tricks, and that’s okay. But you won’t find anything in Scripture that denounces such activities. Passages about sorcery would have to be grossly taken out of context, and passages about deception are going to be up for multiple possible interpretations and personal convictions, rather than universal for all Christians, in regard to this particular issue.

I hope that helps though I’m sure it isn’t the reply you were anticipating.